Until recently, Economic Analysis has not been brought to bear on the analysis the resource distribution within the family, although the question is of central importance in studying policy implications of public transfers and legislation on family issues. This project integrates the theory of consumption and the economics of human resources to generate a powerful procedure to estimate the shares of parents' and children's consumption. The advantages of the proposed research are: - It builds on the most fundamental principles of theory, and thus avoids the pitfalls of using 2 specific utility function. - The theory generates a series of tests to serve as a check on the validity of the estimates. - It draws a clear distinction between consumption technology and distribution within the family, thereby removing much of the confusion surrounding previous discussion of the topic. - It unifies work on adult equivalence scales and the cost of children, shedding new light on the limitations of these measures. - It allows for inclusion of both the allocation of time and goods and their interaction. - It can be extended to problems of consumption and savings and intergenerational transfers. This strategy of research consists of four stages: 1. An application of the method discussed in the proposal to several bodies of data. This should provide a sensitivity test, as well as the basis for comparisons of the allocation of goods within the family over time and between different countries. 2. A more thorough investigation of statistical problems associated with this procedure; specifically, problems relating to measurement errors and self-selection. 3. An expansion of the model to incorporate time inputs in children and the supply of labor. 4. An extension to incorporate the model in a multi-period framework, examining the effect of children on consumption and saving profiles.